The Black Dragon

Chapter 1

It isn't exactly common for me to trip over something on the floor. I'm a princess, and princesses don't fall down to the ground on their faces. Though it isn't common for there to be a large object on the floor at dawn. The servants should have moved it out of the way so I wouldn't have fallen onto my face. I grunt as I push myself up, moving my disheveled hair out of my face. It is only morning after all. I move onto my knees dusting off my lap, I glance over my shoulder to see what exactly I tripped over. As my eyes adjusted to what I was looking at, I quickly realize that the thing I tripped over had dark hair. And it was not a thing. It was a person, it was my brother.

I frown as I turn around, squinting at him. Why in the world is Yun sleeping on the floor? He is an imperial prince! It is not proper of him. If mother could see him now she would have a fit. I stand up, moving my hair to behind my shoulders, and I walk over to Yun and kneel beside him. With the silence I can hear his little breaths each time he take a breath. Well at least that means he's alive. I poke at his shoulder, but he doesn't budge. So I begin to shake him, but once again, he does not wake up. I frown and sigh deeply, off course I wouldn't be able to wake him up.

I stand back up, looking around the hallway. Odd. There are no servants walking around, they should be here. Walking around and preparing for the day. Thinking about it, I didn't see any fresh water brought to my room, nor were any of my clothes or jewels layed out for me when I woke up. I shake my head. Maybe something happened to mother that took up the servants' attention. Yes, that is probably it.

As I walked down the rest of the halls to get to my mother's room the silence tugs at me. And there are no servants as far as I can see. Something doesn't feel right. Something has gone wrong. Once I get in front of the sliding doors I push them open and a pungent smell hits my face. Immediately I start coughing, I hold my hand up to my nose. What in the world is that smell? It smells like death.

"Mother?" I ask, my voice muffled by hand. "Mother? Where are you?"

The pungent smell gets worse the farther I get in her quarters. I start to panic. The smell reminded me of blood, of the last time my mother had given birth to my younger sister when she nearly died of blood loss. I was so worried for her then. I thought I was going to lose my mother, one of the few people who genuinely cared for me.

My heart pounds in my chest as I enter her sleep chambers. Her large bed is empty and the room is nearly pitch black aside from the little light coming in from the windows at the end of the room. It smells so much like blood in here. Was she with child again? She didn't tell me, maybe she was so preoccupied that she forgot to. Did she miscarry it? Is that the blood I smell? I walk slowly to the washroom, as if something was pulling me into there. The only sound is the noise my feet make as the touch the ground. I lay a hand against the sliding door, the other one still pinching at my nose.

When I open it, I scream out in terror. And as I step back I trip and fall back onto my behind. My hand no longer held up to my hand to keep me from smelling the pungent blood. On the floor in front of me lays nearly ten people, maybe even more. And in the center of all the bodies was a well dressed woman. An intricate gold headdress was on top of her raven hair. And she wore silken robes. At the base of her throat was a thin line where her neck was slit, dark red blood stained her neck. Mother! Oh please, not mother! Tears pour out of my eyes and I sob, my body shaking in grief.

I don't want to take my eyes off her but, I do, quickly. And I regret it immediately. Besides her were my younger sister, two of my father's other wives, and three of my young half-siblings. Servants were strewn around the dead bodies of my family members. Blood spilling out from all their necks, from thin slits at the base of their necks. Everything is frozen, even the air feels chilled. The only thing that moves is my body as it spases from my sobbing. No. No. No. This can not be happening. There's a knot in my throat, it feels like I'm suffocating. Maybe this is just a very bad dream. Maybe this is all in my head. This can be real. I shake my head furiously, wrapping my arms around my head and rock back and forth.